Jodi Picoult - Handle With Care

Gosh - can it be a month gone by already? In our defence, we've been mad busy with events throughout May - and it certainly started off with a bang right at the start of the month with a visit on May 1st from the ethical dilemma-meister herself, Jodi Picoult. The sign was out, working its chalky magic again, and by 5.30pm there was a fair old queue stretching back down Stert Street. The fact that it was the Friday before the bank holiday weekend hadn't deterred her die-hard fans... Jodi arrived hot-foot from prior engagements in Bath and Swindow, to a fair amount of excitement. We ushered her into the shop, and - as a little bird had told us that she was a big fan of cake - we ensured she had a couple of our stalwarts (choc brownie and lemon drizzle) on hand to keep her going whilst she was here. We took a fair few fan pics to email to various people afterwards - here's a selection from the afternoon:

All that remained was for the oligatory photo with happy booksellers (both Nicki and I managed to be at the shop thanks to some judicious babysitting) and she was gone!

Jodi was utterly charming (not to mention very complimentary about the cake...and the shop) and thanks to her and everyone at Hodder for helping everything run so smoothly...